Feb 16, 2006
Prime Minister, Yusuf Raza Gilani has said that the army would be pulled out, if peace restored in Swat. Talking to media here in Islamabad, the prime minister said that the agitation was the right of the lawyers, how could they be stopped. Yusuf Raza Gilani said that US drone attacks were counterproductive and not in the interest of the country, which he condemns. He said that the US would have to review its policy. Earlier addressing a conference, the prime minister said that the load shedding crisis was the greatest challenge for the government and there was no need of getting nervous on challenges. He said that IMF-set targets have been achieved. He further asked for restraining ourselves for the betterment of the economy. PM said that the talks with Iran were underway for 1100MW electricity.
TheNation
Showing posts with label pakhtun. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pakhtun. Show all posts
Monday, February 16, 2009
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Forget Gaza, care about Swat
Forget Gaza, care about Swat
The Pakistan report card
Thursday, February 12, 2009
by Fasi Zaka
I think it would be absolutely inhuman not to care about the massacre in Gaza, the flagrant violation and cruelty demonstrated by the Israelis. But after talking to an old friend of mine, I can see how someone would be unmoved by the plight of the Palestinians.
A friend of mine called recently from the UK to announce the birth of his son. He was with me in university in Peshawar, and is a most amiable fellow. He is from Swat, and I had a good number of friends from that place during my student years.
The people of Swat are an extremely good looking people, and of a much more demure nature than most Pakhtuns, who are known to be boisterous. Several years after the completion of my education I went to Swat on a research project for the first and only time looking into the value chain of apple growers for the export market. I met many farmers, intelligent family men who were seeing hard times in agriculture but were optimistic about the future. Despite their hardships, they conformed to the gentleman farmer mould. If you had asked me at the time what would be the main concerns of Swat several years into the future I would have said it was the decimation of the population of bees due to pollution that was affecting the pollination of fruit-bearing trees. How wrong I was.
My friend who just had a son is in the UK, working; his wife and newborn are still in Swat. When he called he told me he was going to a protest in London to urge for action in his city. Several of his extended family had been murdered by the Taliban, and others threatened. The beauty of the valley is now irrigated by the blood of its slain innocents.
He asked me with what conscience could Pakistanis protest Gaza and be vocal about the atrocities there while remaining silent on Swat. He is right, it is unconscionable. More than the trouble in the tribal areas and FATA, Swat is problematic because it is indigenous Taliban without the benefit of being close to Afghanistan. When Swat goes, only a matter of time before Peshawar, and ultimately Islamabad too, if not the rest of the country, if the government does not detain these people.
How hard is it to take out a radio station there that Fazlullah uses to terrorise the citizens every night, announcing the roster of targets in his bloody workweek? What are the army and government thinking on this? There is already a report in the press that one of the ministers in the NWFP took out an advertisement in the local papers of Swat asking the Taliban to forgive him. Why is he still in office. The government has been shameless in only lauding Afzal Khan Lala, an octogenarian, the only resistance there is in the valley. Why is the burden of Swat on this old man?
The press has been irresponsible. Many commentators have romanticised the movement. But what is the core of the demands of the Taliban, other than regression of progress? Despite the horrific violence of the Communists, at least they gave their people education and quality healthcare that eventually helped undo the totalitarianism. The only way to undo the Taliban if they ever take over will not be education because there will be none. We will hark back to the days of brutes, leading short violent lives. There will not even be a noble savage amongst us. The moral relativism needs to end. They are massacring the people of Swat; the people live in terror every day while the army and the government watch on.
The Taliban have already issued their hit list to the media of politicians from the once serene valley. How long before they become even more ambitious and issue death verdicts to members of the legal fraternity, human rights lawyers and media men? Expect that soon. Where we can negotiate we should, no need for loss of life, even if it is enemies of the state, we need to preserve the sanctity of what is living. But sadly, we have moved beyond that phase because of the inaction of the both Musharraf and the current government.
The killing machine that the Taliban have become has created a new theatre of blood lust. They exhume graves of people to put corpses on display, they publicly kill people for minor offences, they fear education and ostracise it, they cut off people's noses and ears. What kind of humanity is that? It's not Islam, that's for sure. It is an aberration.
Of all the coverage I have seen, the best came from unexpected quarters and in a totally different setting. While Hamid Mir is often criticised for being sensationalist, his reporting from Gaza was an unbelievable tour de force of mature and thought-provoking reportage. While surveying the damage in Gaza, he looked at the schools that were destroyed by the Israelis and pondered about Swat and the same that the Taliban manage to do with impunity. Without thinking everyone will denounce Israel, but hesitate to denounce what is happening in Swat. Why?
Gaza has been covered well by the world media and for the first time from both the west and the east there is tandem consternation over Israel, concentrating on it and ignoring our own plight is not sensible. The tragedy of Gaza doesn't need to be replicated in Pakistan. We need to heal Swat, for the people of the valley and as a duty to our fellow citizens. The next generation will not forgive us for our silence.
The writer is a Rhodes scholar and former academic. Email: fasizaka@ yahoo.com
Source: http://thenews.jang.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=162093
The Pakistan report card
Thursday, February 12, 2009
by Fasi Zaka
I think it would be absolutely inhuman not to care about the massacre in Gaza, the flagrant violation and cruelty demonstrated by the Israelis. But after talking to an old friend of mine, I can see how someone would be unmoved by the plight of the Palestinians.
A friend of mine called recently from the UK to announce the birth of his son. He was with me in university in Peshawar, and is a most amiable fellow. He is from Swat, and I had a good number of friends from that place during my student years.
The people of Swat are an extremely good looking people, and of a much more demure nature than most Pakhtuns, who are known to be boisterous. Several years after the completion of my education I went to Swat on a research project for the first and only time looking into the value chain of apple growers for the export market. I met many farmers, intelligent family men who were seeing hard times in agriculture but were optimistic about the future. Despite their hardships, they conformed to the gentleman farmer mould. If you had asked me at the time what would be the main concerns of Swat several years into the future I would have said it was the decimation of the population of bees due to pollution that was affecting the pollination of fruit-bearing trees. How wrong I was.
My friend who just had a son is in the UK, working; his wife and newborn are still in Swat. When he called he told me he was going to a protest in London to urge for action in his city. Several of his extended family had been murdered by the Taliban, and others threatened. The beauty of the valley is now irrigated by the blood of its slain innocents.
He asked me with what conscience could Pakistanis protest Gaza and be vocal about the atrocities there while remaining silent on Swat. He is right, it is unconscionable. More than the trouble in the tribal areas and FATA, Swat is problematic because it is indigenous Taliban without the benefit of being close to Afghanistan. When Swat goes, only a matter of time before Peshawar, and ultimately Islamabad too, if not the rest of the country, if the government does not detain these people.
How hard is it to take out a radio station there that Fazlullah uses to terrorise the citizens every night, announcing the roster of targets in his bloody workweek? What are the army and government thinking on this? There is already a report in the press that one of the ministers in the NWFP took out an advertisement in the local papers of Swat asking the Taliban to forgive him. Why is he still in office. The government has been shameless in only lauding Afzal Khan Lala, an octogenarian, the only resistance there is in the valley. Why is the burden of Swat on this old man?
The press has been irresponsible. Many commentators have romanticised the movement. But what is the core of the demands of the Taliban, other than regression of progress? Despite the horrific violence of the Communists, at least they gave their people education and quality healthcare that eventually helped undo the totalitarianism. The only way to undo the Taliban if they ever take over will not be education because there will be none. We will hark back to the days of brutes, leading short violent lives. There will not even be a noble savage amongst us. The moral relativism needs to end. They are massacring the people of Swat; the people live in terror every day while the army and the government watch on.
The Taliban have already issued their hit list to the media of politicians from the once serene valley. How long before they become even more ambitious and issue death verdicts to members of the legal fraternity, human rights lawyers and media men? Expect that soon. Where we can negotiate we should, no need for loss of life, even if it is enemies of the state, we need to preserve the sanctity of what is living. But sadly, we have moved beyond that phase because of the inaction of the both Musharraf and the current government.
The killing machine that the Taliban have become has created a new theatre of blood lust. They exhume graves of people to put corpses on display, they publicly kill people for minor offences, they fear education and ostracise it, they cut off people's noses and ears. What kind of humanity is that? It's not Islam, that's for sure. It is an aberration.
Of all the coverage I have seen, the best came from unexpected quarters and in a totally different setting. While Hamid Mir is often criticised for being sensationalist, his reporting from Gaza was an unbelievable tour de force of mature and thought-provoking reportage. While surveying the damage in Gaza, he looked at the schools that were destroyed by the Israelis and pondered about Swat and the same that the Taliban manage to do with impunity. Without thinking everyone will denounce Israel, but hesitate to denounce what is happening in Swat. Why?
Gaza has been covered well by the world media and for the first time from both the west and the east there is tandem consternation over Israel, concentrating on it and ignoring our own plight is not sensible. The tragedy of Gaza doesn't need to be replicated in Pakistan. We need to heal Swat, for the people of the valley and as a duty to our fellow citizens. The next generation will not forgive us for our silence.
The writer is a Rhodes scholar and former academic. Email: fasizaka@ yahoo.com
Source: http://thenews.jang.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=162093
Militants torch school in Swat
Feb 12, 2009
Swat: The militants torched one more school in Odigram area, on the outskirts of Mingora on Thursday. One security personnel was killed and another wounded as clashes between security forces and militants continued in the restive Swat valley. While mortar shells were fired at a security post set up in an agriculture office in Takht Band area. However, no loss of life was reported in the attack. A rocket was also fired at a police station in Matta, killing one security man and injuring another. Besides, one security man was injured when unknown militants attacked a security forces’ convoy with remote-controlled bomb near Kanju Township chowk.
Source: TheNations.
Swat: The militants torched one more school in Odigram area, on the outskirts of Mingora on Thursday. One security personnel was killed and another wounded as clashes between security forces and militants continued in the restive Swat valley. While mortar shells were fired at a security post set up in an agriculture office in Takht Band area. However, no loss of life was reported in the attack. A rocket was also fired at a police station in Matta, killing one security man and injuring another. Besides, one security man was injured when unknown militants attacked a security forces’ convoy with remote-controlled bomb near Kanju Township chowk.
Source: TheNations.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Swat violence threatens to become all-out war - 05 Aug 08
After a week of intense fighting in the Swat Valley, there seems to be no end in sight to the conflict.
Al Jazeera's Kamal Hyder has this report on what is close to becoming an all-out war in Pakistan's troubled north.
Source: Aljazeera
Al Jazeera's Kamal Hyder has this report on what is close to becoming an all-out war in Pakistan's troubled north.
Source: Aljazeera
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Locals in Swat feel insecure in wake of unabated violence
Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009 ⋅
SWAT (SANA): Local people in Swat are feeling insecure as the militants and security personnel are continuing their activities in the restive district civilians are falling victims to such violence.
The militants have blown up one more school in Swat and killed two innocent citizens and there is no let up in violence in Swat.
Member of National Assembly Marvi Memon of PML (Q) said that the people are fighting in Swat against all odds.
She said, “So far I have observed in Swat the Taliban are criminals working without any ideology. And we are condemning their activitivies especially burning and destroying schools for girls. We want the government to implement the writ of the state soon”.
The districts Bar President Aftab Alam says, “The situation has getting worse day by day. Although, the security forces had launched an operation in the restive valley of Swat a year ago, normally remain illusive so far”.
Meanwhile, the militants blew up another school in Mingora and attacked police station at Kabal injuring one constable.
So far around two seventy eight schools have been destroyed or partially damaged by militants depriving of education sixty thousands’ school going girls.
SWAT (SANA): Local people in Swat are feeling insecure as the militants and security personnel are continuing their activities in the restive district civilians are falling victims to such violence.
The militants have blown up one more school in Swat and killed two innocent citizens and there is no let up in violence in Swat.
Member of National Assembly Marvi Memon of PML (Q) said that the people are fighting in Swat against all odds.
She said, “So far I have observed in Swat the Taliban are criminals working without any ideology. And we are condemning their activitivies especially burning and destroying schools for girls. We want the government to implement the writ of the state soon”.
The districts Bar President Aftab Alam says, “The situation has getting worse day by day. Although, the security forces had launched an operation in the restive valley of Swat a year ago, normally remain illusive so far”.
Meanwhile, the militants blew up another school in Mingora and attacked police station at Kabal injuring one constable.
So far around two seventy eight schools have been destroyed or partially damaged by militants depriving of education sixty thousands’ school going girls.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Shelling over civilian areas & curfew continues in Swat
SWAT - At least nine persons were killed and 14 others, including a security man, injured on Sunday in forces’ ongoing operation against militants in Swat Valley.
Moreover, curfew was imposed in the troubled areas of the Swat Valley for an indefinite period.
source:http://www.nation.com.pk/
Pictures:
Pictures of displaced people from Charbagh and other affected areas are temporary settled in Mingora Wadudia High school.
Migrant's shoes
Migrant kids playing in a school which currently is a home for evacuated peoples from war zones.
Showing migrants woes.
Civilian killed in forces’ ongoing operation against militants in Swat Valley.
Injured are rushed to hospitals.
Unfamiliar with curfew? This is how it look likes.
Moreover, curfew was imposed in the troubled areas of the Swat Valley for an indefinite period.
source:http://www.nation.com.pk/
Pictures:
Pictures of displaced people from Charbagh and other affected areas are temporary settled in Mingora Wadudia High school.
Migrant's shoes
Migrant kids playing in a school which currently is a home for evacuated peoples from war zones.
Showing migrants woes.
Civilian killed in forces’ ongoing operation against militants in Swat Valley.
Injured are rushed to hospitals.
Unfamiliar with curfew? This is how it look likes.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
A few pictures
A Hotel Near Kanju Bridge blasted by taliban because it was serving as a base camp for the military
Kanju Bridge collapsed by bomb blast by taliban. It was an important bridge for connecting Mingora city with Kanju.
Taliban Destroyed Qambar School.
Taliban Destroyed Qambar School.
Suicide attack at a checkpost in Sangota area
Updated at: 1118 PST, Monday, December 01, 2008
SWAT: Ten people have been killed and 27 injured in a suicide attack at a checkpost in Sangota area of Mingora on Monday.
According to sources, the attacker rammed his explosives-laden vehicle into the check post in Sangota area destroying two cars queued near checkpost. The blast also damaged the nearby building partially. Sources feared rise in death toll.
Aftermath Pictures of the Blast:
(Viewer discreation is advised)
Swat, o Swat!
Swat, o Swat!
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Kheyam Khan
The people of Swat are confused. They wonder how the might of the Pakistan Army cannot subdue the Taliban of Swat. The Swat insurgency and the "counter-insurgency" must be given priority attention by the country's intelligentsia.
With the beginning of "Operation Rah-e-Haq" in November 2007 people hoped that security in the region will improve. They were optimistic about the operation and welcomed the military with flowers and garlands. But gradually over time this trust receded and now it is practically non-existent.
People now have their reservations about the operation. They ask pertinent questions about it. They see a lack of willingness on the part of the "state" to curb the militancy. This perception is now held by the intelligentsia, particularly the Pukhtun intelligentsia. They contend that if the state's military can stand up to a military as strong and large as India's, how can it not handle an internal insurgency carried out by a few thousand armed men?
And whenever the state expresses and acts on the will to bring law and order to the region it is able to do so, as happened in the February 2008 election. Before the election everyone was concerned whether the election was possible in the Swat valley. But to everybody's amazement it was not only held but held peacefully, except in one constituency.
People ask who made the "miracle" possible then. Again this goes in the line of the argument that if "powerful state actors" will it then things can be settled in weeks.
The Swat issue started with the advent of the Taliban in Afghanistan. The TNSM was founded in 1989 in Malakand Agency at a time when the Soviets were leaving Afghanistan. The rise of the TNSM in Malakand Division at a time when the Taliban were gaining power in Afghanistan is not mere coincidence.
Overnight an elderly man rose from the hills of Maidan and became a hero. Before that nobody knew who Sufi Mohammad was. And later his movement was crushed in a couple of days because the state willed it – and after that there was complete peace in the valley. Tourists again began to pour back in and life once again became vibrant.
The peace was broken when the son-in-law of Sufi Mohammad gave his first sermon on the FM radio. It was post-9/11, and there was apparently drastic shift in Pakistan's foreign policy. Pakistan became a frontline state in the war on terror, but the Pukhtun intelligentsia thinks – and this is conception shared by many others as well – that its "assets" had to be guarded as well, and hence Swat was made a "haven" for some of them.
The unwillingness of the state to fight the militancy head-on, they claim, was evident by the way it loosened the grip which it had established over the militants in their stronghold of Gut Peuchar in Matta tehsil. Many residents of the valley wonder whether this was done by design.
Another claim is that the tactics and strategies the Swat militants use are not the work of semi-literate mullahs. The intention is to crush any hint of resistance from among the local population and hence the daily killing of people and the hanging of their dead bodies in public squares. Similarly, targeting the leadership is a tried-and-tested war tactic throughout history. Could it be that the former "assets" of the state are now turning their guns on their former benefactors? This is a question on a lot of people's minds.
Some observations on the war in Swat
Some observations on the war in Swat
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Aasim Sajjad Akhtar
Over the past few weeks a vigorous debate has raged on these pages about the nature of the war taking place in Swat. It is important to congratulate the editors of these pages for providing space to this debate; one of Pakistan's most pressing crises is an intellectual one, deriving from a lack of exchange of ideas without fear of suppression.
The debate has pitted those who claim that the situation in Swat is a reflection of long-standing class inequities against those who refute this notion of 'class war'; while the former suggest that the 'Taliban' has generated support amongst the subordinate classes the latter argue that the 'Taliban' has imposed itself in the area on the basis of brute force. At the risk of generalization, let me venture that those who argue that there is a clear class dimension to the war in Swat are convinced that US imperialism and its client Pakistani military are bigger enemies of the people than the 'Taliban'. On the other hand, those who emphasise the brutality of the 'Taliban' above and beyond the machinations of the US and Pakistani militaries argue that the 'Taliban' is the biggest menace facing society.
There is a need to move beyond the binary of the 'Taliban' and the Pakistani/American militaries. This is not to suggest that the principal protagonists of the so-called 'war on terror', namely the Pakistani and American militaries should not be identified as such, but only to make clear that the relationship between the 'Taliban' and the Pakistani military is very, very shady.
Nonetheless there is a need to transcend the superficial analyses that are floating around in the popular media where conspiracy theorists typically identify the age-old 'enemies of Pakistan' as creating chaos in the shape of the 'Taliban'. However, even some of the more historically accurate narratives which acknowledge the deep consensual relationship between the religious right and the military establishment do not consider how this relationship has evolved and why the religious right is able to make inroads into society (regardless of whether it is supported by the establishment or not).
In short, I concur with the proposition that there is a class dimension to the war in Swat in the sense that long-standing social schisms have been exploited by the 'Taliban' to generate support. I believe however that there is a need to recognize the tremendous ideational power that Islam plays in the wider society. If the 'Taliban' engenders at least some support from historically marginalized social groups by promising to attack the edifice of class and state power in the area, then these same social groups are also moved by the promise of eternal salvation.
I recognize the points that have been made about the changes in society on account of migration that has spouted now sources of wealth and attendant worldviews. But here it is worth pointing out the sociological roots of the original jihadi/sectarian organizations, such as the Sipah-e-Sahaba (SSP) which was supported by the relatively mobile urban merchant classes of small-town Punjab who wanted to challenge the monopoly on political power of the incumbent landed class (that happened to be primarily Shia and could be made the target of a Sunni supremacist politics of exclusion). Thus the new wealth that has changed the landscape of Swat society may not necessarily have changed the configuration of local politics and the 'Taliban' may be seen as a vehicle to challenge the prevalent political hierarchy.
I also think that the romance of the 'Taliban' amongst ordinary people in Swat has worn off to a significant extent. So historically marginalised social groups were originally enamoured by the 'Taliban's' lure of salvation in both 'deen' and 'duniya'. However even if the 'Taliban' has provided material benefit for some segments of Swat's population, it has also resorted to unbridled use of force to operationalise its 'Islamic' dictates to the point where it has become clear that it does not offer the glorious alternative order that it claimed to do.
Having said this, by continuing to rain bombs down upon innocent people, the Pakistani military is providing every incentive to the local population to look at the 'Taliban' as an alternative to the violence of the state. And thus the nebulous relationship between the 'Taliban' and the military emerges as a central part of the tragic story of the Swat war.
In conclusion, by suggesting that the 'Taliban' exploits historically evolved conflicts within society, one is not arguing that it's warped millenarian vision actually represents a progressive alternative. But it is also true that simply decrying the 'medieval' and 'barbarian' project of the 'Taliban' and therefore implicitly providing a mandate to the militaries that have imposed war on Swat and other parts of the Pakhtun belt will serve only to sharpen the appeal of this millenarian vision. What Swat really needs is a genuinely anti-imperialist force to resist the so-called 'war on terror' and build a progressive and equal society not through brazen coercion but through popular mobilization.
The writer is a political activist associated with the People's Rights Movement. He also teaches colonial history and political economy at LUMS. Email: aasim@lums.edu.pk
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Aasim Sajjad Akhtar
Over the past few weeks a vigorous debate has raged on these pages about the nature of the war taking place in Swat. It is important to congratulate the editors of these pages for providing space to this debate; one of Pakistan's most pressing crises is an intellectual one, deriving from a lack of exchange of ideas without fear of suppression.
The debate has pitted those who claim that the situation in Swat is a reflection of long-standing class inequities against those who refute this notion of 'class war'; while the former suggest that the 'Taliban' has generated support amongst the subordinate classes the latter argue that the 'Taliban' has imposed itself in the area on the basis of brute force. At the risk of generalization, let me venture that those who argue that there is a clear class dimension to the war in Swat are convinced that US imperialism and its client Pakistani military are bigger enemies of the people than the 'Taliban'. On the other hand, those who emphasise the brutality of the 'Taliban' above and beyond the machinations of the US and Pakistani militaries argue that the 'Taliban' is the biggest menace facing society.
There is a need to move beyond the binary of the 'Taliban' and the Pakistani/American militaries. This is not to suggest that the principal protagonists of the so-called 'war on terror', namely the Pakistani and American militaries should not be identified as such, but only to make clear that the relationship between the 'Taliban' and the Pakistani military is very, very shady.
Nonetheless there is a need to transcend the superficial analyses that are floating around in the popular media where conspiracy theorists typically identify the age-old 'enemies of Pakistan' as creating chaos in the shape of the 'Taliban'. However, even some of the more historically accurate narratives which acknowledge the deep consensual relationship between the religious right and the military establishment do not consider how this relationship has evolved and why the religious right is able to make inroads into society (regardless of whether it is supported by the establishment or not).
In short, I concur with the proposition that there is a class dimension to the war in Swat in the sense that long-standing social schisms have been exploited by the 'Taliban' to generate support. I believe however that there is a need to recognize the tremendous ideational power that Islam plays in the wider society. If the 'Taliban' engenders at least some support from historically marginalized social groups by promising to attack the edifice of class and state power in the area, then these same social groups are also moved by the promise of eternal salvation.
I recognize the points that have been made about the changes in society on account of migration that has spouted now sources of wealth and attendant worldviews. But here it is worth pointing out the sociological roots of the original jihadi/sectarian organizations, such as the Sipah-e-Sahaba (SSP) which was supported by the relatively mobile urban merchant classes of small-town Punjab who wanted to challenge the monopoly on political power of the incumbent landed class (that happened to be primarily Shia and could be made the target of a Sunni supremacist politics of exclusion). Thus the new wealth that has changed the landscape of Swat society may not necessarily have changed the configuration of local politics and the 'Taliban' may be seen as a vehicle to challenge the prevalent political hierarchy.
I also think that the romance of the 'Taliban' amongst ordinary people in Swat has worn off to a significant extent. So historically marginalised social groups were originally enamoured by the 'Taliban's' lure of salvation in both 'deen' and 'duniya'. However even if the 'Taliban' has provided material benefit for some segments of Swat's population, it has also resorted to unbridled use of force to operationalise its 'Islamic' dictates to the point where it has become clear that it does not offer the glorious alternative order that it claimed to do.
Having said this, by continuing to rain bombs down upon innocent people, the Pakistani military is providing every incentive to the local population to look at the 'Taliban' as an alternative to the violence of the state. And thus the nebulous relationship between the 'Taliban' and the military emerges as a central part of the tragic story of the Swat war.
In conclusion, by suggesting that the 'Taliban' exploits historically evolved conflicts within society, one is not arguing that it's warped millenarian vision actually represents a progressive alternative. But it is also true that simply decrying the 'medieval' and 'barbarian' project of the 'Taliban' and therefore implicitly providing a mandate to the militaries that have imposed war on Swat and other parts of the Pakhtun belt will serve only to sharpen the appeal of this millenarian vision. What Swat really needs is a genuinely anti-imperialist force to resist the so-called 'war on terror' and build a progressive and equal society not through brazen coercion but through popular mobilization.
The writer is a political activist associated with the People's Rights Movement. He also teaches colonial history and political economy at LUMS. Email: aasim@lums.edu.pk
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